Jaesin (pronounced Jay-sheen) was is the oldest person who has stayed in our spare room. This served up an interesting and new dynamic for us, because instead of providing Laini with a sibling, he provided her with a loving, thoughtful uncle.

Emily Chang | The Spare Room | Jaesin and Laini silly faces

In 2012, Jaesin was the unfortunate victim of a heartless fraud (I hope they do catch Ryan Fedoruk one day). Finding himself homeless with just six months of schooling left, we were more than delighted to open our Spare Room to provide the Korean student with a safe place to stay .

Here’s a photo of of our guy doing Korean face masks with Laini and Minki; they were FaceTiming me while I was traveling on business. In fact, I wrote about one particularly funny incident involving Jaesin, Laini and face masks in Chapter 3 of The Spare Room.

Emily Chang | The Spare Room | Jaesin face masks

Jaesin was the sweetest human. He meticulously picked little black seeds out of watermelon cubes for Laini, so she wouldn’t choke on them. And he imported special face masks from Korea (before K-beauty was even a thing!) that they could enjoy together… what a gift to our family!

Later in Fall 2014, we had the pleasure of visiting Jaesin in Korea, and enjoyed the opportunity to experience his country with him and his family.

Emily Chang | The Spare Room | Jaesin sister in Korea
Our family loved spending time with Jaesin’s beautiful sister.
Emily Chang | The Spare Room | Laini glimpses North Korea
Laini checked out North Korea from the border at the DMZ
Emily Chang | The Spare Room | Laini Korean food
Jaesin bought her all kinds of street food

Today, Laini’s Jaesin samchon (Uncle Jason) has two insanely adorable children of his own and lives in Korea. We miss him dearly and can’t wait to visit him!

Emily Chang | The Spare Room | Jaesin and his kids

Tell me that photo doesn’t just melt your heart. 🥰😊

Flip to page 100 in The Spare Room book to read more about what it was like living with the inimitable Jaesin.